Consumer Savings from Set-Top Box Energy Agreement Tops $2 Billion

Independent report shows industry innovation saved $2.1 billion, 11.8
million metric tons of CO₂

WASHINGTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Consumers saved approximately $941 million in energy costs in 2016 – and
almost $2.1 billion over the last four years – as a result of the
award-winning voluntary set-top box energy conservation agreement among
pay-TV providers, manufacturers and energy efficiency advocates. A new report
by independent auditor D+R International says the Voluntary
Agreement (VA) also avoided 11.8 million metric tons of carbon
dioxide (CO₂) emissions – equal to removing 2.5
million cars from the road for an entire year – since the VA’s inception
in 2013.

Jennifer Thorne Amann, Buildings Program Director for the American
Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), praised the Agreement
for delivering the predicted energy savings: “When the Department
of Energy endorsed the Voluntary Agreement in 2013, it estimated
that consumers would save $1 billion per year once the Agreement’s even
more rigorous second tier of energy standards became effective in 2017.
Savings in 2016 nearly reached that level, and we look forward to even
greater savings under the new requirements.”

The VA has delivered increased energy savings each of the past three
years, doubling in 2014, nearly doubling again in 2015, and then
increasing by another 47 percent in 2016. D+R confirmed these energy
savings by reviewing data on every 2016 new set-top box purchase by
pay-TV providers serving 92 percent of the U.S. market, backed up by an
in depth audit of one randomly selected service provider as well as
energy testing inside customer homes conducted by Intertek Testing
Services NA Inc., an internationally recognized energy-testing firm.

Service providers have rapidly replaced older-model set-top boxes as
consumers flock to new more energy-efficient whole-home DVR
architectures that include compelling new features such as improved
interfaces, voice remote controls, and Netflix integration. As a result,
D+R estimated that nearly three-fourths of all DVRs in the field today
were purchased under the Voluntary Agreement’s energy-efficiency
standards, and that new DVR models now use an average of 40% less energy
than the models purchased prior to the Voluntary Agreement. Most legacy
devices will be replaced within the next few years even without any
additional measures. D+R also found that service providers continue to
upgrade the energy-efficiency of previously-deployed devices with new
software that supports reduced power modes in periods of inactivity.
This measured approach is better for the environment than premature
disposal of working set-top boxes, which would consume additional energy
and resources through the processes of manufacturing, transporting, and
installing replacement devices.

The initial term of the Voluntary Agreement is set to expire at the end
of this year, but the parties recently issued a joint
statement indicating that they have started discussions and are
optimistic that they will be able to reach consensus on terms to extend
the agreement for several more years. The Voluntary Agreement is thus
expected to continue without any interruption in the commitments to
purchase energy-saving set-top boxes, and to continue to serve as a
complete and effective substitute for all federal and state legislative
and regulatory solutions pertaining to the energy efficiency of set-top
boxes.

Additional milestones highlighted in the 2016 annual report include:

• 98.6 percent of New Set-Top Boxes Meet ENERGY STAR Efficiency
  Standards. Under the Voluntary Agreement, the service provider
  signatories agreed that 90 percent of the set-top boxes they purchased
  after December 31, 2013, would meet the energy efficiency standards of
  ENERGY STAR Version 3.0. In 2016, virtually every set-top box they
  purchased (98.6 percent) met these standards.
• Higher Standards Kick in. Even more energy efficient standards
  became effective January 1, 2017. The signatories have committed that
  90% of their 2017 purchases will meet these standards, which will
  deliver even more annual savings than the $1 billion originally
  predicted when the Voluntary Agreement was endorsed by the Department
  of Energy.
• Whole-Home Systems and Cloud DVRs. Prior to the Voluntary
  Agreement, consumers that wanted to use recording functionality
  throughout their home typically needed a DVR with a energy-consuming
  spinning hard drive for each television. Millions of consumers today
  now use “whole home” offerings that require only one DVR, and new
  “cloud DVR” offerings are emerging that eliminate the need for a DVR
  hard drive in the home altogether.
• Automatic Power Down. The Voluntary Agreement requires that at
  least 90 percent of new satellite set-top boxes include Automatic
  Power Down (APD) – a functionality that puts set-top boxes into an
  energy-saving sleep mode or turns them off after a period of
  inactivity. In 2016, every new satellite set-top box (100 percent) met
  this requirement, and cable signatories are also implementing APD.

The Voluntary Agreement was signed in 2012 with the goal of increasing
the energy efficiency of set-top boxes, while continuing to innovate and
introduce new features. In 2013, leading energy efficiency advocates
joined with the pay television industry in an expanded version of the
VA. Signatories now include all of the major multichannel video service
providers representing more than 92 percent of the U.S. multichannel
video market (AT&T/DIRECTV, Comcast, Charter/Time Warner Cable/Bright
House Networks, DISH, Verizon, Cox, Cablevision, and CenturyLink), major
manufacturers (ARRIS/Pace, Technicolor, EchoStar Technologies) and
energy-efficiency advocates (Natural Resources Defense Council, American
Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), and the Appliance
Standards Awareness Project (ASAP). CableLabs^® has also
played a leading role in researching and developing energy efficiency
strategies and in supporting the ongoing implementation of the Voluntary
Agreement.

Last year, the Voluntary Agreement was named
“Project of the Year” by Environmental Leader, a leading daily
trade publication covering energy, environmental and sustainability
news. To learn more about the VA, please visit www.energy-efficiency.us.

About Consumer Technology Association:

Consumer Technology Association (CTA)^TM is the trade
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technologies. Profits from CES are reinvested into CTA’s industry
services.

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innovators and content creators that connect, entertain, inform and
inspire consumers every day. NCTA’s members have invested $260 billion
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platform, reaching 93 percent of American homes and serving 63 million
customers. More than 200 programming networks are creating imaginative,
popular and award-winning television content. Our industry supports 2.9
million American jobs and employs at least 300 people in every
congressional district.

Contacts

Consumer Technology Association
Brian Dietz, 202-222-2358
[email protected]
www.NCTA.com
or
Elliot
Grimm, 703-907-5240
[email protected]
www.CTA.tech